Expectorants for children

Very often, you can see how parents buy cough medicine in pharmacies for their children. So they say: "cough." Not every pharmacist, after such a request, will clarify what cough and what is the problem. A prescription for most of these drugs is not required at all. So moms and dads buy, who want to do what is best, not at all what their baby needs.

I will not talk about all the means against cough, a lot of them, let's talk about expectorant and mucolytic drugs. When and why do our children need them?

Expectorant drugs - this is a separate group of herbal and synthetic drugs, whose main task is to ensure the process of discharge of bronchial secretions (sputum) from the respiratory tract. The secret to the body is very necessary, it is produced to protect the respiratory system from bacteria and viruses.

When a child is healthy, the secret is easily excreted unnoticed. But if the baby has a cold or if a foreign object is stuck in the airway, transporting the bronchial secretion, which is produced several times more in response to the ingress of pathogens, is disturbed. A cough appears. This condition requires the use of expectorant drugs.

And now a small video of Dr. Komarovsky on expectorant drugs.

All drugs of this action profile are divided into two categories:

• Sekhotomotornye. They stimulate expectoration. Some do it reflexively (irritating the cough center in the medulla), for example, licorice root or syrupAlteyka". Others increase the production of the liquid component of bronchial secretions, sputum liquefies and is easier to remove.

• Mucolytic. They act on sputum, diluting it at the cellular level. This group includes the new generation of mucoregulators, which increase the secretion of pulmonary surfactant, balance the liquid and mucous parts in the sputum. These are the most popular medicines today, these include, in particular, "Bromhexine», «Ambroxol" and etc.

Expectorant drugs are not a panacea, they only temporarily relieve symptoms without eliminating the underlying disease. Therefore, they should be used as part of complex treatment for respiratory diseases, both acute and chronic, in which the child has abundant viscous sputum, which is difficult to cough up independently. Most often, these drugs are needed for bronchitis, bronchial obstruction, if the child is sick with influenza or ARVI and the viral infection is complicated by a secondary one.

So, if to speak more simply, expectorant drugs are needed when the child’s cough is accompanied by a thick and viscous sputum, or the discharge of sputum is difficult.. These medicines will be effective for a wet cough, for a wet cough.When a child has a dry cough (barking, unproductive), there is no sputum, and he needs other drugs - antitussive. Medications that thin and sputum, are well proven in the treatment of bronchitis, pharyngitis, laryngitis and tracheitis.

Sputum thinning and sputum removal products for children are quite often produced in the form of syrups and drops, but they are also available in tablet form, in capsules. Quite often, pediatricians advise parents to buy a child an inhalation solution. Young children are more suitable syrups and drops, after 6 years, you can give pills. Doctors recommend taking the capsules to children after 12 years.

Most syrups and mixtures with expectorant and mucolytic effect are herbal preparations or combination products that have natural herbs with the composition. Pediatricians, oddly enough, more often prescribe synthetic medicines, because the plant can cause the appearance of severe allergies.

There are situations in which you should not treat a wet cough yourself. It would be better to contact a specialist if your baby:

• Wet cough does not pass for a long time (lasts more than one and a half weeks)
• There was severe shortness of breath;
• The temperature has risen;
• There were obvious wheezing when coughing;
• Phlegm comes out with blood or green festering impurities;
• Cough worse at night;
• The child complains of pain in the sternum.

Brief information about them is presented in the following form:

• Drug name
• Action, release form
• Age restrictions
• Dosage

• Sekretomotorny, expectorant.
• Syrup
• From 6 months.
• Up to a year - 2.5 ml per reception
• after 1 year - 3 ml, after 5 years - 5 ml per reception.
• Frequency of intake 3-4 times a day.

• Secretolithic expectorant action.
• Pills.
• Since birth
• Up to 1 year - half a tablet three times a day, from 1 to 3 years - 1 tablet three times a day, from 3 to 5 years - 1.5 tablets three times a day.

• Mucolytic agent. Syrup.
• With 3 years.
• Children from 3 to 6 years old - 2.5 ml of syrup three times a day,
• for children from 6 to 12 years old - 5 ml three times, from 12 years - 10 ml four times a day.

• Mucolytic agent.
• Syrup.
• With 2 years.
• From 2 to 5 years - 2.5 ml syrup after meals three times a day.
• From 5 years on 5 ml of syrup three times.

• Mucolytic action.
• Syrup, solution for internal use, capsules and tablets, effervescent soluble tablets.
• From birth - for solution, from 1 year old - for syrup, from 6 years old - for tablets, from 12 years old - for capsules.
• Syrup: three times a day, children under 12 years old, 15 mg per dose, children over 12 years old - 30 mg.
• Solution: two or three times a day, for children up to 1 year old - 1 ml each, for children from 1 to 5 years old - 1.5 ml each, from 5 years old 2 ml each.

• Mucolytic, anti-inflammatory agent.
• Capsules and capsules forte.
• Capsules - from 6 years old,
• Forte - from 9-10 years.
• Children from 6 to 10 years old take 1 capsule twice a day, with acute illness three times.
• Children from ten years old - 2 capsules 4-5 times a day.

• Mucolytic drug.
• Syrup, dragee, solution for internal administration, tablets. All forms are separately adult and children's dosages.
• From 6 years old - for pills and tablets, as well as syrups.
• From 6 months - for the internal solution.
• General dosages:
• children under 2 years old - 2 mg three times, from 2 years - 4 mg, from 6 years - 8 mg, from 14 years - adult dose.
• Drops: up to 2 years - individually, from 2 to 5 years - 12 drops three times a day, from 5 to 9 years - 20 drops at a time three times. From 10 years old - 23-40 drops.

• Expectorant and anti-inflammatory effect.
• Syrup.
• With 3 years.
• From 3 to 6 years - three times a day for half a teaspoon.
• From 6 to 12 years, three times a day for a whole teaspoon.
• For children after 12 years of age, a single dose is increased to the volume of a dessert spoon.

• Mucolytic action.
• Effervescent tablets, powders for making hot drinks, baby powder for internal use.
• From birth (from one and a half weeks).
• From 10 days of life to 2 years - 50 mg three times,
• From 2 years to 5 years - 250 mg twice a day,
• from 5 to 12 years old - 400 mg three times a day.

• Combined drug mucolytic and sekretomotornogo action with anti-inflammatory effect.
• Effervescent tablets and syrup.
• From 2 years old - for effervescent tablets with a dosage of 200 mg.
• From 14 years old - for effervescent tablets with a dosage of 600 mg.
• From 1 year old - for syrup.
• Daily doses of syrup:
• children under 2 years old - 5 ml, children from 2 to 5 years old - 7.5 ml, children from 6 years old and older - 10-15 ml.
• Effervescent tablets daily dispense:
• 300 mg (for 2-3 doses) for children from 2 to 6 years old, 400 mg for children from 10 to 10 years old (for 2 doses).

• Mucolytic agent.
• Granules for preparing a solution at home, effervescent tablets.
• From 18 years old - for effervescent tablets, from 6 years old - granular form.
• 200 mg. 2-3 times a day.

• Mucolytic agent.
• Syrup.
• With 2 years.
• To children from 6 years on 1 measured spoon three times, to children from 2 to 6 years - on 1 measured spoon twice a day.

• Mucolytic agent.
• Syrup.
• With 3 years.
• Children from 3 to 6 years old - one scoop three times a day, children 6 years and older - 2 scoops three times a day.

• The drug mucolytic action.
• Granules for the cultivation of syrup and ready syrup.
• From 1 year old - for syrup, from 16 years old - for granules.
• For children from 1 to 5 years old, not more than 2.5 ml of syrup, for children from 5 years old and older - 5 ml of syrup.

• Expectorant.
• Syrup.
• Since birth
• Till 1 year - the dose is established by the doctor.
• From 2 to 4 years - 3 drops at a time,
• From 5 years a single dose - half a teaspoon. Syrup is diluted with water.

• Expectorant.
• Drops and syrup.
• Syrup - from birth.
• Drops - for children from 2 years.
• For children under 2 years, the dose of drops is calculated by the doctor.
• From 2 years old -2.5 ml of syrup three times a day or 16 drops.
• From 4 years -5-7ml syrup four times a day or 21 drops three times a day.

• Sekretomotorny, expectorant.
• Syrup, lozenges.
• From 3 years old - for syrup.
• From 14 years old - for pastilles.
• Syrup give half a teaspoon three times a day for children from 3 to 5 years.
• From 5 years old - a teaspoon.
• Lozenges - for children from 14 on 1 lozenge every two hours.

Traditional medicine offers just an incredible selection of products for the treatment of wet and wet cough in children, to facilitate the release of sputum. Many of these methods we ourselves know from childhood, because they are practiced and passed down from generation to generation. Let's look at the basic recipes from the arsenal of alternative medicine.

We suggest you to look at several recipes for cough from the expert on traditional medicine Olga Papsueva.

• Turnip and black radish. These useful vegetables have long been known as an effective and inexpensive remedy for wet cough. To start the sputum thin, turnip juice should be mixed with milk and honey. Milk must be warm, not hot, otherwise all the beneficial properties of turnips and honey will be reduced to zero. Drink such a pretty tasty drink should be about five times a day. Turnip can be replaced by black radish. In the vegetable cut a hole on top, and, a little free from the pulp, pour into the milk and honey, pre-mixed. Insist a few hours and give the child to drink 4 times a day.

• Aloe. If this beautiful plant grows in your home, it will be easier to treat a wet cough. Take a few leaves of aloe, chop as thoroughly as possible, mix with the jam, which the child loves. If your baby is not allergic to bee products, add some honey. Let us give a teaspoon of such a tasty and sweet mixture after each meal. Healing dessert will please your child, and the mucolytic effect will become noticeable within a couple of days after the start of the reception.

• Figs It is part of many pharmaceutical mucolytic and expectorant syrups. At home, their figs prepare a drink on a dairy basis. Preheat 2 cups of milk (skimmed milk will not work). Put 1-2 pieces of figs with warm milk and boil under a lid on the weakest heat for about 20 minutes. Once the fig drink is infused, it can be given to children in the fourth part of the cup during the day and a half cup before bedtime.Such doses are appropriate for children who are already 3 years old, crumbs younger than fig drinks are dispensed in tablespoons (two before bedtime and one day each).

• Onion. This vegetable is not the most beloved by children, it copes well with productive cough and overcomes expectorant cough without temperature. To prepare the medicine, take a pound of onion, cut as small as possible, add boiling water per liter and let it stand. After the liquid has cooled, strain and add 100 grams of honey and some badger oil. Due to the possibility of an allergic reaction to the components, such an agent is not usually used for children who have not yet turned 4 years old. At bedtime, give your child half a glass of onion drink. It will not be bitter and nasty, because all the bitterness will disappear during the infusion, and a pleasant taste will appear with the addition of honey.

• Milk with soda. A pinch of soda, a slice of butter, and a spoonful of honey are added to half a liter of warm milk. All carefully mixed and give a drink to the child before bedtime. With this recipe, our grandmothers and mothers were inseparable, each of us at least once had to drink milk and butter in childhood, remember? This is a very powerful means to thin the sputum, it acts after 2-3 doses.

• Birch sap with milk. In warm milk (2 parts), add one part of birch sap. In a glass of liquid, gently mix a teaspoon of flour and, while stirring continuously, bring to a boil. Then cool and give the child to drink this thick, but rather tasty drink, to taste reminiscent of milk jelly. Giving such a tool can be up to 3 times per day.

In order not to engage in mixing herbs in the right proportions, especially if you are not a herbalist and not a pharmacist, it makes sense to buy ready-made cough fees at the pharmacy. In total there are four collections, different in composition, but approximately the same in terms of efficiency and scope.

• Collection number 1 – oregano, Althea root, and coltsfoot (leaves) are rarely recommended for children, as there are oregano in its composition, which it is customary to use in pediatrics exclusively externally.
• Collection number 2 - licorice root, plantain, coltsfoot. This collection is used carefully so as not to cause allergies in the child.
• Collection number 3 - buds of pine, sage, Althea root and anise. This tool is usually brewed children from 7 years.
• Collection number 4 - wild rosemary, chamomile, violet, mint, licorice root and calendula. This complex collection with a large number of components is not recommended for small children. The age limit is 10 years and older.

It is sometimes difficult for small children to cope with a wet cough. Drainage and vibration massage will help the discharge of bronchial secretions. Usually it is done to very young patients, from 3 months to 1 year. Stroking and light tapping on the back and chest cage the baby perceives as a game, this procedure is painless. From the first day of illness, you do not need massage, the time for it will come when the acute phase of the illness passes (4-6 days).

Visual aid Dr. Komarovsky how to massage the child when you cough.

Vibrating massage to the infant, associated with light tapping with the fingertips, is available in the development of each mother, but effective drainage should be done according to certain rules. However, caring parents are able to master them too.

Our great-grandmothers also noticed that respiratory diseases can be cured by external influence. Therefore, recipes compresses and rubdowns with a wet cough for more than one thousand years. The most famous - badger fat, which is slightly melted in a water bath, not allowing it to boil.The fatty substance is mixed with honey, some healers are advised to add a little more vodka. This warm mixture is rubbed on the chest, upper back and sides at bedtime in an hour. Cover with a warm blanket or towel and leave for 40 minutes.

Camphor alcohol is also used as a rubbing agent if the child is already 1 year old.

A potato wrap is made from boiled potatoes in a uniform. It is creased in a puree, put on a gauze, wrapped on both sides and applied to the sternum and back of the child for an hour. Make sure the baby does not get burned.

Visual aid how to make a baby potato compress when coughing.

• In no case should mucolytic and expectorant drugs be taken simultaneously with antitussives! These are drugs whose essence is diametrically opposite.
• Do not use expectorant drugs without the recommendation of a doctor. This is especially true of children who have not yet turned 2 years old, and children who have a tendency to allergies. The fact is that many syrups and mixtures contain herbal extracts and food coloring, as well as flavoring agents, which can be quite allergenic and cause bronchial spasm. This is a very dangerous condition that can lead to suffocation.
• Parents are often concerned about how quickly the expectorant drug will work. Most of the above drugs begin to show a pronounced effect within 30-40 minutes after administration. The action of modern mucolytic drugs lasts 9-12 hours. How long the effect of folk remedies lasts, nobody will be able to tell you reliably, because all herbs and vegetable juices act differently.
• When treating with folk methods, remember that decoctions of herbs with expectorant effect can be given for internal use only to children from six months.
• If at home treatment with means of alternative medicine improvement does not occur within 7 days, you should definitely contact your pediatrician and pulmonologist for a thorough examination and prescription of drug treatment.

Yevgeny Komarovsky, a recognized pediatrician of the highest qualification category, and the favorite of most mothers of Russia and the former Soviet republics, believes that expectorant drugs should not be used at all for children under one year old. The reason lies in the physiological features of the infant child - the baby still does not know how to breathe the way adults do, he has a slightly different way to transport bronchial secretions, and drugs that thin the sputum will increase its quantity, and the slime will be difficult to breathe, and only accumulate in the bronchi, threatening the development of severe pneumonia.

The full release of Dr. Komarovsky’s program on cough treatment.

The well-known doctor advises to relieve a wet cough in a child without medication, providing the baby with proper care, including humidifying the air in the apartment, plenty of warm drink, in which berry fruit drinks, compotes, tea should prevail, it will contribute to the dilution of sputum and certain efforts of adults aimed to teach the child to expect expectoration of sputum as early as possible.